Ember Nickel: Never thought about that...hmmmm...Well, Aspergers is also kind of defined by being socially isolated. Bean's pretty out there in the first book. So maybe he's a socially outcast genius giant suffering of two disorders already! So he can be your example! Lol. Nah. That would be kind of strange, though. The disorders aren't too different and yet are completely unrelated. Ack, now you've made me think about things. Look what you've done, fool!
SilverGryphin: Anderson is...uhhhh...somewhere. Dimak's floating around, too. I bring (physically, not just...talkatively) them into the fic later. At the climax. Which I will not tell you because I have some foreign form of self-restraint...ohhh, crap...DON'T DO IT, DON'T TELL--oh, FINE, Bean takes over the world with his flying monkeys and rides around on a broomstick. Are you HAPPY now that I've ruined it for you? Ugh. Lol. I thought I might have made Graff too harsh, so thanks for the reassurance :D.
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Chapter Six
Battle
The lights flickered on. Nikolai groaned and rolled over, pressing his head into the pillow to block out its harsh brightness. He could have mouthed the words with Ender:
"Battle at 0600," he called out. "Hurry up, they're already there!"
"It's that time already!" Crazy Tom yelled angrily.
"I know, I know, they only just told me," Ender explained resignedly. He'd obviously slept in his suit, anticipating the disruption. "Get your suits on, move!"
Nikolai rubbed his eyes and leapt out of bed, grabbing the suit he'd hung up on his bunk. He looked to his left to exchange an irritated look with Bean, but he wasn't there. In fact, he'd never returned after lights out. Nikolai frowned.
"Hey, where's Bean?" he called out.
Ender's head snapped up. "He was sleeping on my floor last night, he couldn't find his way back in the dark. He was gone when I woke up. I thought he came back here."
Nikolai's eyes widened, remembering Bean's bloody mouth and desperate gaze. "I'll check the bathrooms," he said, bolting into his flash suit and running towards the stalls before anyone could answer. "Bean!" he shouted once he got there. "Bean, are you in here?"
His voice echoed back at him. He cursed under his breath and ran back to the bunks just in time to see everybody leave and start rushing towards the Battle Room.
"Bean's missing!" he yelled after them.
The group stopped. They all remembered last night, too. "The little launchy?" asked one of the veterans.
"Go on," Ender ordered, gesturing for them to keep moving. "I'll meet you there in a second, just run."
"Bean's missing," Nikolai repeated, unable to think of anything else to say.
Ender nodded. "I know. I understand that you're upset—we all are—but we have to go through with this battle regardless. We'll finish it up quick and send out a search party. For all we knew he grew some brains and went down to the medics'."
"Right," Nikolai said uncertainly, for Ender's benefit.
Ender placed his hand on Nikolai's shoulder reassuringly. "Don't worry. Now fight hard."
Ender ran after the group. Nikolai paused for a moment to think, shook his head and tore off behind him, sprinting like hell. If he missed a battle over something as stupid as a missing kid he'd never be able to live it down.
But he couldn't crush the doubt in his mind. Something was wrong.
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When Bean arrived at the bunks, the room was completely empty. "No," he muttered under his breath. He should've expected it. He hurried to his bunk as fast as he could, given the damages to his small frame, and grabbed his flash suit. The most insufferable pain came from his ribcage; he had either cracked or broken multiple ribs. His head pounded mercilessly, there was blood in his mouth again. There were other aches, but these were the only he acknowledge, if only for a moment or two before rushing on.
Once he'd thrown on his suit haphazardly and secured the laser gun into its harness, he took off into the hallway, hearing nothing but his own pounding feet mocking him. Another cough wracked his ribcage. He couldn't keep running. His chest couldn't expand without the pain. Trying to shallow his breathing, he muttered a short curse, sounding unnatural coming from a child's mouth. He walked faster, willing himself not to keel over right there in the middle of the hallway. Students would be waking up for breakfast in a few minutes.
Breakfast. The game's effects lingered on him; he was no longer a scrawny four-year-old, but a lean soon-to-be-six-year-old, yet he was insanely hungry. He would have laughed had he not been under the circumstances.
It was clear that the battle was well underway if not soon to be finished by the time he arrived. He opened the doors a crack, observing. The enemy was nearing their gate. Bean's eyes widened. Most of Dragon Army was frozen, drifting aimlessly. It looked like Salamander had an advantage, being there first. What went wrong?
He calculated the situation, figured out exactly where and how he was going to have to launch himself off of the wall to get a good aim of the advancing Salamander soldiers. He counted to three, braced himself for the overwhelming pain, and jumped into the battle room, firing in a burst of sheer adrenaline.
For a sweet several minutes he forgot his pain, forgot the horror of being beaten up by Achilles on the very streets he'd escaped a year ago. It was just him and the game. Virtually him and maybe two other Dragon soldiers remaining to fight. Bean fired like a madman, except every move was precise, his mind entirely focused on the task.
Win. He had to win. He knew the consequences; if Ender lost a battle, the teachers would freak. They'd think the world was at stake. So he fought harder, thought faster, and kept firing, ignoring the drops of his own blood when they started floating aimlessly in the abyss of null gravity.
His heart pounded, his blood rushed. A buzzer rang out. The battle was over—they had won.
He was frozen now, completely stiff. He wanted to stay that way—for a short moment, he couldn't feel anything. He was completely numb. But Ender unthawed them all as any commander would, looking beyond furious. For a second Bean thought the anger was directed at him, but he realized that he was pissed at the Battle School officials for pressing them into an unfair battle.
"Bean," said Nikolai, at his side within a few seconds.
"Hey." Bean cringed as he unthawed. Black spots formed at the corner of his eyes.
"This is unbelievable! You told us ten minutes late, the other army was already in the Battle Room, I was missing a soldier—this is getting out of control! If you're going to let the other team cheat, at least have them cheat intelligently," Ender argued with Graff outside of the room.
"You saved our asses," Nikolai laughed, but Bean could see the fear in his laugh. Dragon Army had almost lost a battle.
"Nah. I just…came late."
"Where were you?" asked Nikolai, headed towards the doors by pulling himself along the wall.
Bean willed his arms to move and propel him, but he couldn't. "The game," he answered, forcing his arms to move. His chest was on fire.
Nikolai stopped, squinted over at Bean. "Damn. It got you good."
Bean swallowed hard. "Yeah." He hated this display of weakness. He hated knowing he'd be the last one out of the Battle Room because of this.
He hated thinking that the game was still waiting for him. That it wasn't over and he still didn't know how to end it.
Nikolai took his hand. "C'mon," he said, helping Bean maneuver out of the Battle Room. "Did it strangle you?" he gasped.
"No. Threw me against a wall." A wall that shouldn't have been there, a wall that he shouldn't be able to feel… "With my neck," Bean added in explanation.
"You've got to stop playing," Nikolai said firmly, fear in his voice. Slowly they inched along the wall. "Please. For your own good. Dragon Army needs you—and who would I annoy with all my homework if something happened to you? I'd be iced within the month."
"Within the week," Bean corrected, trying to keep the mood light and pretend that he wasn't so dizzy in the null gravity that he wasn't sure if the door was two feet away or twenty.
His feet touched solid ground. Gravity pressed down on him cruelly, stifling him for a moment. He reached out and found the wall with his hand. Nikolai reached out for his hand, steadying him. Once he thought he could walk Bean let go of his hand.
"Thanks," he said somewhat sheepishly.
"I'm serious, Bean, this is getting out of hand…"
Bean didn't answer.
Nikolai sighed. "Are you coming down to breakfast?"
Bean's stomach was gnawing at him, reminding him of his late night endeavor. He hadn't had any dinner last night in the commotion, on top of that. But he felt like he was going to fall over. He thought of his classes—there was a trigonometry test today. Aw, screw it all to hell, he was never going to show up to classes like this. Even if he cleaned off the blood, his neck would be red and his front teeth would be missing and he wouldn't be able to move.
He shook his head. "No. I'll see you later. I can make it down to the bunks," he assured his friend, starting in the opposite direction.
"You sure?" Nikolai called after him.
"I'm sure." But even as he said it, he was anything but sure. He'd probably be lucky if he made it back to the bunks without tripping on air, he was so lightheaded. He waited until Nikolai's footsteps faded away to reach for his ribs. He poked, affirming that one or more were cracked. Maybe broken. Probably not. He'd be fine—all he had to do was wait a day or so. The tooth fairy might come if he could find his two front teeth.
Bean grinned to himself, feeling slightly mad. How weird he probably looked right now, gap-toothed. Those were his first lost baby teeth. A badge of childhood. It was hilarious that he, after going through things most adults would never see in their lifetime, was losing his first teeth.
He made it to the door and stretched his arm up to palm in. The doors opened and he stumbled in, the pain ballooning with every step. He saw his bunk. Finally, he'd reached the end…all he wanted to do was lay down and sleep until the day was over. He'd get up for practice, though. Ender needed his new group.
He closed his eyes. He was so close to the bunks, but he couldn't move. The door slid shut behind him. His step wavered. Why did he have a top bunk? Why couldn't he have been on the bottom?
He made it to the ladder before his legs fell out from under him. His head rang with atrocious intensity; he held it with his hands, trying to press the pain out of his skull. He was only conscious for a few seconds after hitting the floor. Then everything around him was black again.
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So there's chapter six! Haha, Bean be on da floor. I AM evil. Maybe if you review enough I won't kill him. Teehee. :D :D